User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Dealing With Depression

@shenyajin

Thanks for that - I always thought I was 一个退休工人 and all the time I was 不工作了!  Actually I am now neither, working five days a week (moan).  One of my favourite words in English is 'malingerer' - does  不工作了 really convey this meaning or can you say 装病人? But a malingerer doesn't have to feign sickness.  Maybe there is no Chinese equivalent??

Posted on: Heading Home

@barbs

I have heard young people referring to each other using 老公 and 老婆 quite a bit and it is not particularly romantic. When a young bloke refers to his grilfriend as 老婆  I think that it has a possessive tone and does not sound respectful. When a girl uses 老公  I think it sounds submissive.  Old fashioned perhaps, but not poetic to my ear. For an English translation I would go to gangsta culture.  Of course this is not speaking for all cases.  Just my impressions.

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

@mikeinewshot

thanks for that link BTW - so interesting; I had heard of the 'list' but never had a look before.  The names I mentioned are all fairly high on the list, no wonder I met so many people with those names.  

but unusual names are a good talking point - working out which characters. I love Chinese 'spelling'.  

(I tried unsuccessfully to leave a message a couple of days ago; I must have run into a 'maintenance' stoppage - my message disappeared.)

Posted on: Dealing With Depression

我觉得这个课文关于‘把你的短袜往上拉‘(pull up your socks)  的隐喻。 病人要帮助可是医生就说他没关系。 对吧? 为病人应该忧虑。

'pull up your socks' 中文怎么说？

Posted on: Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs

This is a really entertaining series.  In particulr I am beginning to really like Lane (the angry and certainly not accomplished chef).  He has a career waiting for him as an enforcer (over in the 'money laundering' business, cutting off fingers etc.)  

The run-down about 冷菜， 热菜，主食， 甜品 and  酒水饮料 is charming but gives the misleading impression that there is some sort of system to Chinese meals or even menus.  This is like arguing that the naming of dishes is logical.  If it just meant as a way of categorising food how about adding 小吃 and 零吃 ?

That is interesting about 糖醋排骨 being for eating while drinking.  A common accompaniment for serious (but responsible) drinking is rice, but I just eat the rice :-)

Posted on: Big Bed

@fibberdie, light, barbs

Sorry I caused some discomfort over my 'reporting' of vann and his Mingtown Hiker recommendation (my weak attempt at being funny). It was a bit of a mixed message.  I was feeling slightly overwhelmed with the volume of unecessary detail in the post (including the misleading 43 for a room - he means a bed in a dorm and it would be more like 50）.  And barbs yes I see little is served if you really like the place but in this case it is already in LP so the 'damage' is done.

And i have no inside knowledge on that hostel, I have never stayed there.  If it is your first trip to SH it would be pretty easy to find..

Posted on: City: Mumbai

有一个问题。。 在节目Jenny说宝莱坞的坞和好莱坞的坞是一声， 但是在课文坞是四声。 而且在词典坞是四声。 可以告诉我们应该说一声还是四声？ 

Posted on: Funny Business

@pete

I'm obliged for the reference. 

And sorry to hear about NY!  I wasn't really interested until I read quite a bit about the business in China; my lecturer from a couple of years back has published on prostitution in China.

And our very own 'Underbelly' series has lots of stories about money 'laundering' - in these stories the crims and the police together try to spend it as lavishly as possible.

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

@mikeineshot

啊呀! 还没有。。 I didn't know, but I have two Chinese friends with that family name.  I believe it is fairly common.  I don't know where it ranks on the league table, do you? 

关于姓有一两件事我想知道。。

Eg. I am interested to know how 'regional' some family names are - in Hangzhou I met several people with the names Wu, Hu and Xu.  But not Zhu!

Posted on: Funny Business

@pete

I of course know nothing about money laundering but i have always been fascinated by 'why is it necessary'?  Apart for being material for lots of TV shows and films I mean.  Many so called 'dirty' businesses are in fact legal.  Eg. your brothel example, brothels are legal just about everywhere in the West. (Are you suggesting that despite progressive legislation in this area that brothels are illegal in China?)  But let's take extortion - say you get a lot of money by illegal means.  Why do you need to put 'expenses' through a legitimate business?  It is not like you are going to lodge a tax return for the income earned. And if you do put false expenses through, isn't that just attracting the tax authority's attention?  And wouldn't you really want to inflate the INCOME of the legitimate business if you were trying to 'launder' the income from the illegal business?

I know .. WAAAAAY off topic - but I badly need some criminally minded help. 

Incidentally I loved the lesson.